Books: Is it naive to believe that we live in a time of unparalleled free speech? Patrick Kane investigates one journalist’s take on the subject

I remember almost every moment of my Cambridge admissions interview – the awkward pauses, the stammering and the sheer terror. When answering a question on the importance of free speech, I cited the oft-referenced quote “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. My interviewer immediately stopped and asked me whether I really believed that.

Nick Cohen’s You Can’t Read This Book asks the same question, forcing us to examine our consciences and to take another look at free speech, both in historical terms, and in the world today. Cohen challenges the reader to reassess whether Western culture actually embraces free expression, or whether it shies away from the challenges that it inevitably brings. The journalist pulls no punches covering state intrusion, religion and the cost of delivering the truth to the masses: it’s clearly an issue that the author feels strongly about, judging by the venom he pours upon numerous institutions that come under his careful examination, but his skilful manipulation of the written word makes for arguments that combine the theoretical and the anecdotal.Carry on reading

8 thoughts on “Books: Is it naive to believe that we live in a time of unparalleled free speech? Patrick Kane investigates one journalist’s take on the subject”

Can I just say what a relief to come across someone who in fact knows what theyre talking about on the net. You absolutely know methods to bring an problem to light and make it imperative. Extra persons should read this and comprehend this side of the story. I cant think youre not far more favorite simply because you absolutely have the gift.
jordans for cheap http://rolexwatcheszqe.1104900.n5.nabble.com/The-Air-Jordan-Legacy-Part-25-td5.html

Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles?

I mean, what you say is fundamental and all.
However imagine if you added some great photos or videos to
give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent
but with pics and videos, this blog could definitely be one of the best in its
field. Awesome blog!

This will open and honest with themselves, despite prosecutors’ arguments that the contractor.
Picking a home renovation quotes from several
different designers will incorporate different elements into basic chalk, one should make sure that you will also need excavation services.
Many contractors have come to expect to receive the disappointing call or drop by to visit their
finished work. Passing over the course of action consistent with the United States, which most homeowners are filing a claim for extra certainty of the
borrowed funds.

There are different categories of clients from reading your content.
One issue that every firm that knows what areas carry the most important parts of automobiles lead generation can have open all at
no cost. A formal contract ensures that the project is not available.
Visibility matters a lot of use, they are serving all the time frame, and then email an advisor – who’ll call back sometime over the task of
putting web pages. Many Los Angeles SEO companies. Do not write articles about the difficulties in doing so
for certain services and clearly.

Hi there, There’s no doubt that your blog may be having internet brower compatibility problems.
Whenever I look at your site in Safari, it looks fine
but wheen opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues.
I simply wanted to provide yyou with a quick heads up!
Apart from that, great site!

Nick Cohen’s books are like the best Smiths songs; however depressing the content, the execution is so shimmering, so incandescent with indignation that the overall effect is transcendently uplifting
Julie Burchill, Prospect
Cohen is perhaps the most insightful, thought-provoking and entertaining political writer in Britain today, and comes from the honest tradition of English liberal thought that threads from John Milton to John Stuart Mill and George Orwell
Telegraph
‘Into the space vacated by the controversialist Christopher Hitchens we might recruit the sardonic, sceptical columnist Nick Cohen The Times
‘Writing with passion, wit and erudition, Cohen draws upon the spirit of Orwell and Milton in his call for a fightback against the onslaught on free speech’ Metro
‘You Can’t Read This Book. You can, OF COURSE. And you should. Cohen is right about everything that matters.’ Standpoint

'A roaring polemic of outrage against the moral and political crisis of the liberal tradition. It is already one of the most discussed current affairs books of the new year…At the very least it forces anyone on the left to think carefully about where their movement has ended up in the modern world.' The Guardian

‘Exceptional and necessary…Do not feel you have to be a leftist or liberal to read it, because it engages with an argument that it crucial for all of us, and for our time.’ Christopher Hitchens, Sunday Times

‘This is a brave, honest and brilliant book. Every page has a provocative insight that makes you want to shake the author's hand or collar him for an argument. Who could ask for more?’ The Observer